Omagh bombing killed 29 - Seamus Daly charged with their murders

Updated
April 11, 2014 10:42:00

The 1998 bombing in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh was the worst single attack of the Troubles, described by former British prime minister Tony Blair as 'an appalling act of savagery and evil'. The Real IRA's bomb killed 29 people. Now Seamus Daley has been charged with the murders.

CHRIS UHLMANN: It was the worst single attack of the Troubles, described by former British prime minister Tony Blair as "an appalling act of savagery and evil". In 1998 a bomb went off in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh killing 29 people. Now, finally a man has been charged with the murders.

Our correspondent in London, Barbara Miller, has been following the story.

Well, Barbara, the Troubles were three decades of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland which claimed the lives of several thousand people. Just remind us of the details of the Omagh bombing.

BARBARA MILLER: Yes, Chris it was the 15th of August, 1998. Now the Good Friday peace agreement had already been signed by that time but the Real IRA (Irish Republican Army) which was the group that carried out this bombing didn't accept that agreement.

It was a car bomb. It was driven into the town. Now the story goes that it was meant to go off in front of the court house and the Real IRA, as was the custom in those days, had issued some warning to the police in Northern Ireland, people were starting to be moved from the court house.

Now apparently they couldn't find a parking spot outside the court house. They drove it into the town centre and the bomb went off in a very, very busy shopping street and men, women and children were killed and Protestants and Catholics were killed. It was a very indiscriminate bombing - 29 people killed and over 200 injured. So, a terrible moment but also a pivotal moment in some ways in that Northern Ireland peace process.

CHRIS UHLMANN: And what do we know of Seamus Daly? Do the charges come as a surprise?

BARBARA MILLER: Well, he's always been suspected of involvement in this bombing and it should be said he's always denied it.

There's a very active group of families from Omagh who've really been pursuing this for a long time. They've pushed for more inquests on it, they've pushed for charges to be brought. They eventually brought a civil case against Seamus Daly and a number of other men a few years ago and he and three other men were ordered to pay quite a substantial amount of money, about $2.7 million in compensation in that civil case.

But no-one has ever been convicted in a criminal court over this so this is really quite a moment. And we expect Seamus Daly to appear in court later on Friday, Northern Ireland time.